Angel from Above
by Aku Kyuketsuki
Summary: To Hell and Back and Back Again- Revised. A What if Fic set at the end of Advent Children. YGO crossover. Isis sees a vision of events to help end the war in their world, and Cloud has another world to save. Only this time, the stakes are higher.
1. New Scenery

Formerly: TO HELL AND BACK AND BACK AGAIN. This is a Yu-Gi-Oh! Final Fantasy VII fiction. That means it is not mine. Also, be warned that this has slight Advent Children spoilers.

A special thank-you to my readers, who reminded me people are still there in this tiny room known as the internet ;).

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Final Fantasy VII. This is also a remake of the original THABABA. Warning for Advent Children (English Subtitled Edition) spoilers, and Yu-Gi-Oh! Alternate Universe. Thank you to Jodine16 ( my beta). Also: Yaoi warning.

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Angel from Above

Chapter I

New Scenery

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Cloud landed breathlessly on the top of one of the surrounding Midgar buildings, barely noticing when his knees hit the ground in sheer exhaustion. He knew his reprieve would be short, and he found himself not disappointed as he rolled precariously out of the way of the sleek, deadly Masamune. Dodging a few close attacks, he forced his tired arms to make his own attack, one which the taller man caught with his blade easily. Sephiroth twisted his blade, and shoulder checked the blond, who found himself dodging a few very quick strikes before the boot of his previous general found itself in his face. Cloud groaned as he slid down the wall, and almost got up before he felt his eyes widen at the sharp pain in his shoulder.

Almost dream-like, he let his head roll softly onto his own shoulder, seeing his pained eyes reflected back in the shine of the Masamune, before following the blade to the black gloved hand of it's master.

"Tell me what you cherish most…" Sephiroth asked as the blond hissed in pain, placing his hand on the less deadly side of the dai-katana. "Give me the pleasure of taking it away."

At the sound of the deadly whisper, Cloud saw flashes before his open eyes, a trick of his mind, or his memories because he was dying, he didn't know. There was Zack: the goofy soldier who was always kind to him, Aerith: who gave her life for all of them, Tifa: his first and only crush, the kids: sweet Marlene and brave Denzel. The list went on, the flashes continued.

Ignoring the pain, he jerked the Masamune out of his chest and into the wall as he dodged the blade, grabbing his own. He swung the broad-sword around in a great ark, unsurprised when Sephiroth put a wide distance between them easily "I pity you. You just don't get it at all." Sephiroth moved forward in attack, Cloud countering with his own. Sephiroth jumped, and his opponent followed. He could feel his anger, his hate, his desire to protect, reach the limit. "There's not a thing I don't cherish!"

Spinning his sword, he aimed the tip towards the older man, hitting the quick release, causing the swords to shoot forward, surrounding Sephiroth. The ex-general was shocked, he had prepared for a direct attack. Smirking, Cloud allowed his energy to propel him forward with enough speed to grab a single blade and slice through Sephiroth in an alternate version of Omnislash. Leaving the last blade in another's place, he sped for the next, slashing through his enemy, again and again, drawing an after-image of himself after each attack. Slamming downwards, he felt his enemy's flesh tear, and the energy that kept the pieces of his swords airborne vanished, and the fell to earth.

Glancing up, Cloud caught one sword easily. "Stay where you belong…in my memories."

As the skies cleared a black wing slid out of underneath Sephiroth's shoulder armour. "I will never be a memory." The elder promised, his wing wrapping around him as he vanished, leaving Kadaj in his wake. The young remnant fell to the ground, gasping for air. Cloud moved into an attack position, tensing when Kadaj charged, but moving his sword away when the younger tripped on his own two feet and fell into his arms.

"Nii-san..." Kadaj moaned, looking up into Cloud's eyes, who could only watch in pity as Kadaj jerked to look at something only he could hear. The cleansing rain began to fall. "Kaa-san...is that…? Un." Kadaj muttered, raising his hand to grasp at the rain, laughing slightly. Cloud smiled as he saw Kadaj's body lift from his arms, the remnant nodding at something only he could hear, and turning into a batch of pyre flies as he returned to the life stream.

The blond ex-mercenary smiled at the calm that the rain brought, tipping his head up and smiling at the Sierra airship. Suddenly, his peace was broke as pain ripped through him once more with the sound of a gunshot.

"We'll go together..." He heard Yazoo mutter from behind him, his arm glowing from the vast materia slammed into him.

"Together, we'll play..." Loz continued, his body in the same shape as his brother's from the materia and the cleansing rain. Ignoring the sluggishly bleeding wound, Cloud hauled himself to his feet, and turned to charge at the brother remnants, who raised their hands and cast an enormous amount of spells all at once. The blinking flash was the last thing Cloud saw...

_"Kaa-san...?" His voice echoed. _

_"Again? Why is everyone calling me their mother lately?" Arieth's voice wondered aloud. Cloud felt his hair move softly. _

_"I guess they must be fond of you." Zack's baritone teased. _

_"This ones a little to big to adopt."_

_"Tough luck, friend, sounds like you don't have a place here." The harsh words were playful. _

_"You're journey isn't done yet."_

_"We need you to do a favour..."_

Growling, Seth shook his head at the stupidity of this 'mission'. As the most powerful High Priests, he and Karim had been given the mission of investigating a small cliff, where there had been a large flash of light the night before. It was pure idiocy, in his opinion, There had been storm clouds in the sky, and he had prayed for rain to stop the most recent drought, but no rain had come. That didn't mean that there wasn't lightning, which is what the flash probably was.

"Stop brooding." Karim said with a kind smile, glancing at the more powerful duellist to his side. "What do you suppose it is, Seth?" He asked idly, spurring his horse to keep up with the other priest's who was in a hurry to get the job done.

"I don't know and I don't particularly care." The brunet replied, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "It's probably just lightning, but if it's dangerous we should deal with it_...quickly_."

There was a hint, but Karim continued at his pace, enjoying the warm, but not excruciatingly hot, day. "You make worry about Pharaoh too much, even though if given the need he could defend you _and_ I."

"We're at _war_, Karim." Seth paused. They were almost at the top of the cliff but something had caught his ear. "Karim, Does something sound like its...dripping?"

Stopping as well, the other priest listened, shrugging. "Maybe you were right and it was just lightning. It could have rained up here, but since it's still morning, it wouldn't have dried up." The broader man offered.

Now, not so sure of himself, Seth jumped off of his horse, creeping along the slope, his Millennium rod at the ready with the dagger out of it's sheathe. Peering over, the high priest felt himself pale as he jumped over the edge, shouting for Karim to hurry.

"He's bleeding!" Seth muttered urgently, hoping that the odd man's assailant wasn't anywhere near. "Karim!"

"I'm here." The man said as he climbed over the small ledge, looking around carefully.

"Grab his swords." Seth commanded, nodding to the six swords lying in the sand as he gently turned the man over, gasping at the pale skin as the man's armour caused him to roll completely over. "Oh, Ra." He muttered, noticing the man was taking shallow quick breaths, blood dried to the front of his soot-covered shirt from a small almost surgeon-like incision just over his heart and a small hole just below his lungs.

Wincing as he noticed the small stream of blood that had come from the man's chest and was leaking down into a small puddle of water, not mixing properly, he shook his head and carefully lifted the blond.

"Zack?" The blond muttered, both Seth and Karim pausing to look at him as his pale eyelashes fluttered. "Aerith?" his eyes opened, and Seth gasped. Though there was no difference in colour between his and the strangers, but there was no denying how the other's eyes glowed strangely in the morning sun. Groaning softly, the blonds' eyes dropped closed still to weak to keep open.

"What is he?" Karim asked, panting under the weight of the awkward swords. "Is he even a he?"

Seth shook his head "Of corpse he's a man." The brunet snapped, gently propping the man on his horse so he could swing on, pulling the man with him.

"Let's go." He ordered, Karim nodding and spurring his horse forward, now wishing to get back with great speed. Seth's mind travelled to the stranger. The man was thin, but well muscled. It was odd to find someone this pale anywhere near Kemet, even though it had happened few times before. The man's abnormalities didn't stop there, as he had the unusual bright golden hair and outrageous clothes.

"Tifa..." the man whimpered, twisting in Seth's grip slightly, but not enough to throw him. "Gomen..." The man stilled, nuzzling into the soft linen of Seth's white and blue robe. Climbing off his horse when they reached the palace, he and Karim hefted the man and his swords into the council chamber of the Pharaoh, who turned towards them.

"Did you find out what was...oh Ra!" The Pharaoh hurried over to Seth and the blond, helping the brunet carry him to the door. "Get him into a room and get healers in here, now!" Men and women rushed around to follow Pharaoh's orders.

"Lay him down!" The healer waved to a bed, looking at the incision closely. "He is too pale. He should have some colour." The man looked him over, assessing the situation. "High Priest, was he worse of better when you found him?"

Said high priest rolled his eyes. "I see no need to panic. The outsider has already awaken once, and he was much worse when we found him. His bleeding has slowed much."

"What do you suppose this is?" Pharaoh asked, tracing his finger along the outsider's left arm gently, taking away an ash-like substance that had only started to appear, the outsider hissing.

"Sephiroth..."

Seth shook his head and pushed the incompetent healer to the side, checking the outsider's pulse, breathing, and how badly he was bleeding. Finding the man was regular in everything and his bleeding had almost completely stopped, he straightened.

"He just seems to have a bad infection." Seth said. "His bleeding has almost stopped, he has a slight fever, and his breathing is slightly erratic, but he's otherwise in perfect condition."

"I knew that!" The healer said with a glare at the smirking priest. "I could tell all that when he was brought in."

"Which is why you were running around like a chicken in harvest season?" The high priest laughed as the healer left in a hurry.

"You know," Maha'ado began, having followed the pharaoh, "even though you are better then the whole team of healers, you don't have to torment them _all_ the time."

"I don't. Just the time that I'm around to torment them." His duties usually took up most of his time, but he studied everything, and was better then most of the palace architects, healers, alchemists, and scholars.

"Tifa..." The high priests and pharaoh, who were crowded around the man's bed watched as his eyes blinked open slowly. "Where, who...?"

"What's your name?" Pharaoh asked softly, amazed by the glowing quality of the outsider's eyes. "Where are you from?"

The man shook his head, seeming confused. Pharaoh sighed as the man groaned in pain, his hand going to his arm. "Nan'…?" he muttered, drifting into sleep.

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"But Pharaoh!" One of the council men shouted, seeming offended. "He could be with the 'Black Rulers'!"

"And if we throw him out only to find out he's innocent?" Pharaoh Argued, his priests surrounding him with Seth at his left. "What if this was the help we were looking for?" Everyone knew that Pharaoh was too kind a king to send the injured out into battle, but the times were growing desperate.

"The 'Black Rulers' do not use anything but shadow monsters." Seth shouted to the council. Pharaoh had better sense of character then all of them put together. He would trust Pharaoh's judgement. "This man hauls around not one but _six_ swords that out strongest warrior would have little chance at wielding." Karim nodded at the truth.

"But if he _is_! If he is then we're just keeping the lion in the middle of the sheep! If the man is as strong as you say, high priest, then we will all surely die under his wrath."

"Enough!" Pharaoh shouted, causing the room to fall silent. "Shadi will check his ka. If we find anything we will put him in the dungeons for trial. If there is nothing any with doubts will hold their tongue."

"Pharaoh." The whole room muttered in union and bowed as the young king left, the high priests following shortly after.

"Is this wise?" Seth asked. "I do not think he is evil, but even a brush from the rod in his mind and I can tell he's not all stable. His mind has been in torment for long years, from what I can tell."

The Pharaoh sighed, pausing outside the door. "I know, cousin. I can sense he has had his mind shattered and repaired only to be broken again. From what I can find," Pharaoh entered the room and bode everyone to leave he and his priests alone with the man. "this 'stigma' he seems to have and a man named Sephiroth are connected." At hearing the name, Cloud moaned, his eyebrows twitching together slightly. "Although he has spoken many names, none of them have made him react in such a way. Shadi?"

The bald priest moved forward, holding his Millennium item out to the man's heart, turning the key and falling into the mind.

_**There was nothing but darkness, a sense of oppression, but nothing evil. Out of the gloom, one could see the flickering of a large fire and screams to one side, but to the other, there was an ominously large door. Shadi paused as he watched the blond run pass, shorter and less muscled then the man in the bed in the real world.**_

_**"A nightmare…" Shadi wondered idly, following what seemed to be a younger Cloud, "or a memory?"**_

_**Cloud ran into the place just as the black haired man was blown from the room at the top of the stairs, crashing through the metal pods only to land in a heap. **_

_**"Cloud!" The man rasped. "You...you have to stop him...the General's gone insane..."**_

_**"General Sephiroth?" Cloud asked quietly, before noticing the young brown haired girl lying in a corner, a slice across her shoulders and chest. "Tifa!" Cloud ran over to her, gently picking her up. "Tifa? Tifa!" **_

_**The girl opened her eyes softly, and even though they were filled with pain there was also soft adoration. "You came...just like you promised."**_

_**"Yea." The blond nodded, but paused when he heard muttering from inside the large door at the top of the stairs. "Stay here, I'll be back for you in a few." Getting up, the blond took the other man's large broadsword, and stalked to the door even though the blade was almost impossible for his lithe form to lift. Entering the room, Shadi watched as the blond snuck up to the man with long silver hair, who had the palms of his hands and the hilt of his six foot long sword pressed against the glass container holding an armless woman with similar pale hair. **_

_**"Mother. You shall have your place as queen of all, mother." The blond ran forward, sinking the blade through the middle of the taller man's back, said silver haired man gasping as he was pinned to the glass by the broadsword.**_

_**"How could you, Sephiroth? My mother, my friends. How do you think I feel? What about my pain?!" With a quick jerk , Cloud pulled the sword out and watched Sephiroth crumble to the ground. "Tifa..."He turned, meaning to go help his friend, but the sound of a sword made him turn. Gasping, the blond dropped the broadsword as he was swung around by the steel in his stomach. Sephiroth held him over the gap in the floor, which was over green liquid.**_

_**"You feel nothing, traitor." Sephiroth hissed. Shadi watched in amazement as the blond gasped for breath and grabbed the flat edge of the sword. "Mother will rule the world, and I will become a god."**_

_**"You...you...BASTARD!" Pulling himself along the sword until his feet touched the ground, Cloud threw the sword and it's owner into the wall, panting as an orange light surrounded him.**_

_**"Limit break." A voice said behind Shadi, causing him to whirl around to face the older version of Cloud. "That's when you get so angry your strength, your physical limit, expands and explodes. What are you doing here?" Older Cloud raised one of the broadswords Karim had brought in in his hand, pointing it at Shadi. "Better yet, **_**how**_** did you get here?"**_

_**"My Millennium Item allows me to see into a person's mind and soul." Shadi informed. "The council wanted reassurance that you were not our enemy."**_

_**"And if I am?" Cloud asked, his hold not quivering in the slightest. "What would you do then, kill me?"**_

_**"More then likely." Shadi said with a nod. "But so far, you are not."**_

_**Cloud laughed and the scene around them vanished to complete blackness. "Have you found what you are looking for?" Cloud asked, a small scene of a house full of bustling kids and an older version of Tifa and Cloud laughing around a bar at some of the children's antics appeared then vanished. Another scene appeared, a slightly younger Cloud and a woman with long braided brown hair wearing a pink dress sitting on top of a playground animal in the slums, talking away. Cloud feeling the power of the black stone in his hand flowing up his arm, invading his mind with an evil chuckle- "Give me the black materia, Puppet."-and his body without his mind handing it to Sephiroth. Cloud struggling with himself, sword raised over his head, about to strike the brown haired girl down. He and the black haired man in a truck, him not being able to move- "Well be friends forever, right?"- and the firing of guns taking down the older man.**_

_**"Yes."**_

Shadi shook his head, landing back in his own body gently. "He has been through much, but I don't see any evil in him that wasn't put there by force." Shadi nodded "I say: innocent."

Pharaoh nodded, looking relieved "Good. Then it's decided." The priests filled out, but Pharaoh remained for a few seconds, brushing some of the blond strands back with a smile. "Pharaoh?"

He glanced up, nodding at the only woman in his entire council. "Yes, Isis? Tell me, is he the one of your vision?"

"The man in my vision was surrounded in green lights and rain, handed to us by my namesake, Isis herself (1). This man came to us in a flash of light, and Karim said there were water puddles on the cliff they found him. I believe he is indeed the one we are waiting for."

Cloud felt his eyes flutter at the sound of people talking, but he couldn't focus on the words specifically.

"When he wakes up," Pharaoh said, straightening and heading towards the door. "We wont tell him anything, just yet. I'm not going to make a person into a sacrifice." Isis bowed, and followed her Pharaoh out the door.

Authors notes:

1- I am a Wiccan under the branch of Tameran, which means I practice spells and magick, but I worship the Egyptian gods and goddesses (my own personal worship involves about 20 gods and goddesses). Just to keep it easy, I'll be using their Greek names, but Isis' true Egyptian name is Eset, so if I type that I'll apologise ahead of time.


	2. Attack

Look, 2 Chapters in a row XD

Disclaimer: See Chapter I for the standard disclaimer.

Underline: Speech in Japanese

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Angel from above

Chapter II

Attack

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Cloud stifled a groan by biting his tongue lightly, opening his eyes slightly and turning away from the blinding sunlight coming through the floor length window. "Kuso…" He hissed, sitting up slightly. The light linen sheet fell from his body, leaving only the sight of his bandaged upper torso and abdomen. Furrowing his brows, he tried to remember where he was, only drawing bright, calming light and Aerith and Zack's voices drifting over him. Before that, was Yazoo and Loz, and a gunshot and several elemental attacks tearing through his body. Mostly elemental, anyway. Looking around, he located his clothes, standing up and pulling on his pants and vest, forgoing his shoulder guard and extra belts because of the intense heat.

Just as he began pulling on his boots, the door burst open revealing two men having a heated argument. Cloud felt himself stare openly at the oddly dressed men. One wore a robe of white with golden accessories and a white headdress, the other, taller man wore a pale undergarment covering his legs under his own blue robe and golden accessories.

"You're awake." The one in pale robes stated.

"Thank you, Maha'ado, for stating the obvious." Seth grumbled, glaring at the other man.

Cloud glanced between the two worriedly. "Er…?" His confused look caught Seth's eye.

Seth paused in his argument with Maha'ado, watching the stranger. "What is your name, stranger?"

Cloud merely blinked, unable to make heads or tails of the strange language being thrown at him. "I'm not sure what you're saying…"

Seth sighed. "Ra, he doesn't even know what we're saying."

"How do you know? You cant understand his weird language."

"I can tell by the horribly stupid look on his face and the fact that his voice posed a question."

Maha'ado huffed indignantly, folding his arm over his chest as Isis walked in, smiling slightly

"Good, now lets try this again. What is your name?" At the stranger's raised eyebrow, Seth rubbed the bridge of his nose slightly. "You know what a name is?"

Isis placed her hand on Seth's arm, before moving closer to Cloud, pointing to himself "Isis. My name is Isis." She pointed at him. "Your name is…?"

Dawning came to Clouds mind, and he was almost ready to smack himself in the forehead 'oh, that's what the 'm' sound meant.' He thought to himself, blushing slightly "Cloud. Ore wa name Cloud desu." He said, making sure his name was the most pronounced of the sentence, pretty sure they weren't able to understand him either. 'Where the hell am I?' He wondered, looking around slightly, before seeing his swords propped against the nearby wall.

Seth followed his eyes to the swords, and raised an eyebrow when the man visibly relaxed. "His name is Cloud?" The word sounded strange on his tongue, but the stranger looked at him when he said the word.

Isis smiled, pointing to Seth and Maha'ado in turn. "Seth, and Maha'ado."

Cloud nodded, repeating all three names in his head. Their accent was different, and despite his world travels he had never passed people who had spoke this language.

"Maha'ado, go tell Pharaoh that his guest is awake…"

"Pharaoh's indisposed."

Seth turned to the door slightly, nodding his head at the elderly white-haired man in the door. "Priest Akunadin. What do you mean he's indisposed?"

"There was another attack, this time they took Heliopolis. Pharaoh has to plan a counter attack before they push us into the ocean." Akunadin looked at cloud from under his hood, and cloud felt his stomach tense, as if he was being stared down by an enemy. "Pharaoh left the orders to entertain his guest, but he will probably need us very soon."

Seth nodded, watching as the stranger's pupil's turned into slits at the sight of his father, and only visibly relaxed after the older priest left the room.

After the man left and the other three began talking amongst himself he glanced at his swords. "Will I be allowed to train?" The three stopped talking momentarily, Maha'ado staring at him as if he had sprouted three heads. "Training?" He said hopefully, making a swinging motion with his hand.

"Do you…?" Maha'ado began, glancing at Seth, not having a clue as to what the foreigner was trying to say.

"If I did do you really think I'd still be standing here?" Seth snapped back.

"You blind dolts, he wants to have a fight!" Karim said as he burst into the room. "You might want to go help Pharaoh, the Councilmen are being particularly uncooperative today. I'll keep the stranger entertained."

Seth glanced at Cloud, who's eyebrows were pinched together in confusion and slight apprehension, as if they might have misinterpreted. "Are you sure…?"

"Shall we fight?" Karim directed at Cloud, flexing his muscles and rubbing his knuckles with a smile on his face. Cloud's small smirk gave them their answer.

"Fine, we'll leave him to you." Seth said, nodding at the other two now that their problem of what-to-do-with-Cloud was solved. Isis nodded and gave Cloud a passing smile as they left, Cloud smiling back.

"Well, grab those," Karim said, pointing at the swords, making sure cloud knew what he was pointing at, "and come on." The larger man waved Cloud over.

Cloud nodded, grabbing the main sword and the second sword, checking the second one to make sure the part of the blade that curled around his hand wasn't damaged, before nodding and following Karim. There was no need for him to drag around all 6 swords and their holster in this heat when there were no major battles. 'None yet.' Cloud thought, vaguely remembering Arieth's voice after he had lost consciousness. As much as she meant to him, if he saw her that meant he needed to do something or she was saving his ass, again.

"What is your name?" Karim asked idly, glancing over his shoulder as they descended a set of stairs not far from Cloud's room.

"Cloud." He replied, looking at all the stone walls and statues. Etched in the walls were weird symbols he guessed was writing, and hanging from places were fabrics and gold.

"I am Karim." The larger man informed. He had been surprised that the small man had been able to lift the swords as if they weighed nothing, when Karim knew they were almost 6 feet of solid metal each.

"Karim." Cloud said aloud, nodding to him self. At the bottom of the stairs were many painted rings for warriors in the shade of the floor above, and already there were about 7 or 8 groups fighting; some arm-to-arm, and some with weapons. The wall to their left opened into a courtyard, where archers were practicing aim with bows and some even with throwing knives. Then there was a dark door at the other side of the room. Cloud felt a chill even at this distance, and he could see etched into the stone doors were people shrieking in pain, giving the impression of a torture chamber.

"Come on!" Karim said happily, stepping into an empty ring. As soon as Cloud stepped in a crowd started gathering, wanting to see who Karim would beat into a pulp this time.

"Oi! Go easy on him Karim! If he's Pharaoh's guest we don't want to hurt him too much!" one soldier shouted from the sidelines. Cloud glanced at the soldier, knowing that the man was calling him weak; not that it bothered him anymore.

Karim laughed and swung the sword he had grabbed off the wall in a wide arch as Cloud readied both swords, shifting into a low stance, smirk still on his face. "Ya ya, I'll take an easy on the boy."

-----

Maha'ado sighed in relief as they followed Pharaoh out of the council room. "Thank Ra that's done with. Karim was right, they were uncooperative."

"They just want what's best." Pharaoh replied, assuming everyone had good in their hearts like he always did.

"Only if they get something out of it." Seth stated, pausing at the entrance to the training yards at the yelling and cat calling, Maha'ado running straight into him.

"What's the matter?"

"We might as well tell Karim he no longer needs to entertain the guest, but get the soldiers ready to move out."

Pharaoh nodded, having paused to look where Seth was. "Indeed, and I would like to talk to the stranger."

"He doesn't understand our language, pharaoh." Maha'ado warned as the young king made his way down the stone steps.

"We'll see." Was his only reply.

Seth, Akunadin, Maha'ado, and Isis followed their Pharaoh down the stairs, pausing beside Karim, who was leaning against the wall with a grin. "He's good." Was all the larger man said.

The new comers glanced at the large fray that was going on, finally noticing it wasn't a drunken fight as it had first appeared, but quite a few men going after one single figure.

"And how long has he been holding off…23 of out finest?" Seth asked, pausing to count the soldiers who were actually attacking the blond.

"Well," Karim began, shifting his weight to his other leg with a wince, "it started with my second in command trying to defend my bruised and battered ego, but when he was tossed out pretty quick two more jumped in and my second got up and tried again. After that it just seemed to multiply every time someone gets hit."

Pharaoh looked carefully at the soldiers, seeing no lasting damage or hostility, just warriors having the time of their life. And the blond was in the middle of it, blocking with his two gigantic blades every turn, front and back, and still managing to get his own fair amount of attacks in on who ever was in front of him at the moment. "They don't seem to have any major injuries…"

"The kid's good, if he knows someone cant dodge his attack he turns those damn blades sideways so fast you're expecting to be cleaved in half when you only get a nasty bang from the flat edge."

"…which is good because we need to send them out."

Karim paused, glancing at his king. "So we are going to make a stand, finally?" At pharaoh's nod, Karim straightened and, putting two fingers to his lips, gave off a whistle that shook dust of the roof. Everyone stopped, and even Cloud who wasn't in the army, looked over at the larger man. "Move!" Every one ran into a line, bowing deeply to their Pharaoh. Cloud discreetly moved to the side, leaning against a column almost hidden in shadow.

"Unfortunately, there has been another attack from the Kem-nesew(1), this time on Heliopolis." Pharaoh spoke loud and clear. "Now, we fight back." The crowd of soldiers cheered, raising sword and fist alike.

Cloud could only assume the short man with black, red, and golden hair was the king, as he wore many gold accessories including earrings, ankle rings, bracers, armbands, belts, rings, shoulder guards, and a crown, and his robes were of the purest white, and was almost see-through; which would have been a blessing in the warm air, especially after his training session. He hadn't really expected people to charge him once he got Karim down, which took a nasty slice to the leg that had happened accidentally when he had pulled back to late and gotten the man with the tip. The other had laughed cloud off when he had tried to help him up, and the next thing he knew he was getting attacked from all sides. Not that it had been terribly difficult. When he got top closed in he just jumped away, his mako enhanced strength carrying him easily out of range.

He felt it then.

It was faint, but it was there. A tingle up his spine, reminiscent of Sephiroth's prescience in his mind. He felt his jaw clench and his eyes snapped shut. The scent of pure mako drifted to him and he snapped his eyes open. It smelled of those who came from Hojo's lab, of a first class SOLDIER who just came out of the tank and had saved his life.

Seth watched the change in Cloud, from a man in the afterglow of doing something he was good at, to bored and slightly uncomfortable in the heat, to worried, to this. The man was staring just over the wall of the courtyard intensely, his pupils shifting into slits again.

The large bang shook the very foundations on which they stood, and Seth had to struggle to keep his balance. The second bang was when hell broke loose. Onto the open courtyards spewed chunks of flying rock and burning debris, and the ceiling above their heads began to fall towards them at a horrifying rate. Soldiers pushed the priests and the Pharaoh in the stair well, when the walls began falling in on them, Dust spraying everywhere followed by blackness and a knowledge of the pain to come.

"Wall!"

Cloud had felt the ground shake, and immediately after had looked up to see something come flying out the wall, before it spun like a boomerang and sliced down all the pillars holding the floor above in quick succession, before cloud batted out of the courtyard with his sword. When the thing had stopped spinning and had unfolded to reveal a very bat like creature, the blond had been about to get rid of it when the ceiling began to collapse on top of him and he caught the screams from behind him, turning, he ran towards the stairwell where everyone was huddled, stone falling with crushing precision on his heels. He jumped over the group of men he had been training with not ten minutes before, landing awkwardly on the stairs and falling down a couple steps, coming back to back with someone he couldn't see. When he felt the air tighten, the walls crumble, he didn't let himself think, only react, and used the barrier materia he had in his pocket along with some other of the small orbs.

"What the…? A soldier at the other end of the dark stairwell asked as the rest of the floor above crumbled at his back, then stopped. As the walls shifted the pale blue light that had surrounded them unnoticed flared brighter, holding the wall.

"Kuso." Cloud swore, feeling the magic from the materia mingle with the JANOVA cells on his arm, burning unpleasantly. The reason why he had stopped using materia before.

"Cloud?" Karim asked, seeing the blond from the soft blue glow, who was pressed against the pharaohs back.

"Hai? I've got it." He said, feeling the barrier waver for a second before it became solid a glowed stronger. "But, I can only hold it for so long…"

"I don't like that tone." Seth grumbled hearing the slightly saddened tone in the others voice. The spell he was casting was probably going to run out quickly. Seth paused, hearing rushing feet on the other side of the wall in front of him, feeling the rush of power from another item holder. "Shadi!" he shouted, banging on the stone with his bracers "Shadi! The pharaoh's in here! Get us out!"

"Seth?" Shadi shouted from the other side of the collapsed heap of wall. The attack had been so fast no one knew what was happening, but when Shadi found out the Pharaoh had been in the quarter that had been attacked, he had felt the blood drain from his body. "I'll get you out!" He waved at a few workers, who began cutting a whole in the large stone as quickly as possible. There was no telling when the entire stairwell would collapse. Cloud saw a beam of light and grinned as Seth, Isis, and Karim rushed the king out.

"One at a time!" Seth shouted through the hole, and cloud nodded to the people behind him to move around him. His arm was starting to feel numb, and the barrier quaked again. When he was the last one, he dropped the barrier and grabbed his swords, quickly diving through the hole as the rest of the stair well crashed around him, bringing down more of the third floor with it. He coughed hard, rolling onto his hands and knees until the fit stopped. When he moved his arm, he saw blood, wincing and rubbing it off on his trousers.

"You ok?" Karim asked, holding his hand out as cloud nodded, taking the hand.

"Hai, daijoubu."

There were servants and people of the court all huddled around one wall, trying to convince the pharaoh that he had to leave.

"No, they only wanted to destroy our soldiers. Otherwise they wouldn't have ran off without causing bloodshed elsewhere while the soldiers where preoccupied."

"Pharaoh." Isis pleaded.

Cloud paused as he saw the air shift above the king's head, probably unnoticeable to anything but his mako-enhanced vision. He squinted and thought he saw an eye.

"No, I already said that we will…" Someone screamed, and Pharaoh turned just in time to see cloud streak at him, blades at ready, but instead of placing a clean cut through the young king, danced around him and slammed both swords into the wall.

The bat-like thing from early shrieked as it became visible, black blood pouring through its mouth and its two wounds, now that he had a closer look, it looked more like some kind of orange bird, with green talons on its hands, and a torso and legs like a man

"A Whiptail Crow?" Shadi asked, slightly shaken from almost seeing his Pharaoh killed.

The thing shrieked again, spitting blood, all over cloud, who stumbled back with a grimace.

Karim laughed and pulled Cloud's sword out of the wall as the monster dissolved. "Looks like it likes you…Cloud?"

Cloud just clutched at his head as a woman's scream filled his senses, pain lacing through his body and his arm felt like it lit on fire. He heard a man's scream, and realised before he hit the ground that it was he who was screaming

-----

Authors Notes:

(1) Kem-nesew: Black rulers

And again Cloud faints . Since there were some comments about too much Japanese in the last version, I decided to keep it in smaller amounts, since Cloud is an important character and its important to know what he's saying. Don't worry, eventually he'll learn Egyptian, but for now he is totally oblivious


	3. Reasons

Disclaimer: See Chapter I for the standard disclaimer.

Underline: Speech in Japanese

And as a reply to Fireotaku18, there is a very good reason the geostigma is back, you'll find out later

Sorry for the wait. I sent this to my beta yesterday, but it never did get reviewed in the end, so sorry for any mistakes

Note: All Japanese and Egyptian translations are at the bottom under the authors notes

--

Angel from above

Chapter III

Reasons

--

It was the second time in about two days he had fallen unconscious, he thought in disdain with a scowl, prying one eye open, only to squeeze it shut again. And that wasn't even including the days he spent in unconsciousness, not that he could tell anyways. He sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily with an arm before finally convincing them to open, stopping in his tracks as he saw the king sitting before him.

"Ohiyo gozimasu." He said, after deciding that blinking stupidly at someone who odiously held power for hours wouldn't give the best impression.

Pharaoh paused, before repeating what Cloud said, slowly. Cloud looked surprised, but nodded his head in approval of the kings pronunciation. "I am Pharaoh Atem."

"Per-a'A…Atem." Cloud repeated, causing Atem to laugh as the blond rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Cloud." he introduced, although he had a feeling that the king already knew his name. At least he could vaguely understand 'I am' and 'My name is' now.

"You're in Kemet." Atem said slowly, waving to the window, which Cloud glanced out, nodding his understanding.

"I'm from a town…Nibelhiem." Cloud said, his hand going to the arm with his ash like sickness. "This is geostigma."

Yami nodded, noticing the slight pain flash in Cloud's eyes as he grabbed the wound, geostigma as he'd called it. "Does it…is it painful?" He asked, his own curiosity getting the better of him as he reached a hand out slightly.

Cloud repeated the words to himself slowly, before realising the meaning, shaking his head. "Not from touch." Granted, he felt a little uncomfortable, but it wouldn't be the first time someone took their curiosities out on him. Then again, these people seemed almost primitive. From his glimpses outside he saw only donkey and horse drawn carriages at best, and when he had glimpsed the ocean, the boats were all wood and wind or man powered, never steel and mako run.

Atem gently ran his hand down the other's arm, who only looked away slightly, as if he had been in a healers bed his entire life and was used to the poking and prodding. Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit the Pharaoh, and he pulled his hand away with a gasp, closing his eyes tight. The geostigma sickness seemed infused with a dark magic, which had reacted badly to the powers of the Puzzle flowing through him.

"Daijoubu?" Cloud asked, looking at Atem, who was covering his lips with the back of his arm. Cloud watched the other, worried slightly. He doubted he had a weak stomach, but couldn't guess why the man might look like he was about to lose his meals. "Gomen"

"I'm fine." Atem muttered, glancing at the puzzle. It had been the same feeling he got when he touched a persons soul, but it was in so much pain he almost lost himself, except he didn't have to deal with losing his soul and he wasn't trying to touch the other man.

Cloud gave him a sceptical look, before nodding. After a moment of silence, when Atem finally gained his composure, Cloud said slowly, "teach me."

"Pardon?"

Cloud sighed. "Teach me the language of Kemet?" He made a motion with his hand away from his lips "Teach me to speak Kemet."

Atem smiled, what the blond was trying to say finally dawning on him. "Ah, yes, we can teach you of Kemet."

Cloud stood, noticing the long robe draped over his body and tied around the waist vaguely, looking around for his clothing. He shifted slightly, feeling slightly naked in comparison to his usual attire, but decided that the garments were probably dirty at the very least.

"Come," Atem began, standing and waving a hand to the door, "let me introduce you to my priests." Cloud tilted his head to the side, feeling very much like he was back in grade school where the adults said something he couldn't understand. He followed when Atem left the room, every now and then pointing out something.

"Aa…Atemu-sama?" He would ask, pointing at the numerous wall scrolls and sharp carved writing or statues lining the hall. "Nan' desu ka?"

Atem would pause, smiling slightly at the odd accent in which Cloud would say his name, before saying what the blond asked. "Isis," he said, gesturing to the woman on the far left of the scroll in Clouds most recent question, "Osiris." He turned to the painting and bowed, making sure Cloud was watching before standing with his palms raised towards the sky with a smile. Cloud nodded, seeing they were also painted larger then the others in the scroll, guessing they were gods. "Cloud?"

The blond looked from the painting "hn?"

"What does 'sama' mean?"

Cloud grinned, standing straight. "Atemu-_sama_," he said, bowing towards Atem. "Reeve-_san_," he made a hand shaking motion, using people he knew for examples and straining the honorific, so Atem knew which word was which. "Zack-_kun_," he made a slight hugging motion, signifying good friend, "to Marlene-_chan_." He held his hand at waist height, signifying younger person, before making the same hugging motion.

Atem smiled, nodding. It was odd, that this language had an honorific applied to the end of a name, and so many as well. "Well, Cloud-san," he said carefully, nodding at Cloud's smile, "shall we?"

They headed through the palace, Atem teaching cloud what some of the hieroglyphics tattooed on the wall were, and what the words they said meant to the best of his abilities. When Cloud managed to remember almost every word he had heard for the day, Atem was quite impressed, and lead the way towards a large hall near the end. Opening the door, Cloud smiled when he saw Isis and Maha'ado chatting by a fake pond. The Roof of the room was left open, and all around plants and flowers flourished, even in the heat. There were man-made rivers with low ledges winding around, fed by several spots in the wall. There were benches, and chaises, lush red fabric and cushions scattered everywhere.

"Cloud." Isis greeted with a smile, Maha'ado looking up and waving.

"Master, who is that?" A short brown haired girl dressed in a short white robe asked as she skidded to a halt beside Maha'ado, her eyes wide and curious.

"I am Cloud." The blond said with a bow in his customary style, bent at the waist. "You are…?"

The girl jumped, staring at him. "Mana." She said. Isis laughed and Maha'ado watched the foreigner carefully, unsure he had heard properly.

Atem chuckled. "I have been teaching Cloud some of our language and culture. He has an astute memory and a sharp mind. I would like all of you to help him learn."

"Why are we teaching him about us?" Seth asked, stepping up behind Cloud and scowling when the blond didn't even show surprise.

"Hem-netjer-tepey Seto-sama." Cloud said, bowing to the priest, who raised an eyebrow at the Pharaoh.

"'Sama' is a sign of honour I believe."

Seth glanced coolly back at the blond, who unlike most didn't flinch at his look, even though said blond was just barely half a foot taller then the Pharaoh. "Indeed."

Cloud shook his head slightly as Seth left the way he had come, completely ignoring him.

"Ignore Seth, Cloud," Isis said from her spot, "he is moody at the best of times." Cloud nodded.

"Isis. I am going to leave him here with you. Could you help arrange lessons of sorts?"

"Of course my Pharaoh."

--

Cloud found that he had forgotten what being at the bottom of the intellectual food-chain felt like, not that he was a genius in any way, shape, or form before, but at least he was able to converse with people and spend money properly and was even able to fix most things. He used to be able to teach Marlene and Denzel how to ride and catch a chocobo, and could even run the old airship before Cid had to retire her because of her horrible condition (the third crash landing in the Nibel mountains hadn't done much to help).

Time definitely flew when you were on the learning end though. He could estimate he had been here for about three months, and for the first time he found himself thankful of the mako flowing through him, making the intake and processing of information easier. Between Isis, Shadi, Karim, Maha'ado and Mana, and on off times Seth, he was kept pretty busy. Maha'ado and Mana were helping him learn the language in the morning (Mana came because she got to skip out on her own lessons, Cloud guessed), before he was traded off to Isis, who taught him of the religion and politics of the region, before he went to Karim and Shadi, who taught him about the culture of the world they were in. Sometimes, if Shadi wasn't there or they were feeling particularly lazily Cloud and Karim trained, but this time it was Karim trying to learn from Cloud. On the off chance that one of his teachers was busy with their duties, Cloud would hunt down Seth and follow him around for the time. The first time Cloud had hunted the other down was merely to make sure his skills weren't getting rusty, but then he had found the priest doing something particularly interesting to a giant stone tablet. Cloud wasn't artistic, nor scientifically inclined, but he had sat and watched anyways, starting up the habit of finding Seth when he was bored and watching in silence.

Today, he felt like a kid about to get a bowl full of candy. Today was one of the days that Shadi wasn't around, and Karim said they were going to try something new.

He followed the directions around to the back of the palace, snuggled tightly in between the palace wall and the high shapely walls that kept anyone else from getting in. There was a small hut with a sloped roof, fit across the walls.

"Karim-san?" Cloud asked as he entered, pulling the door closed and latching the rope shut. He felt his breath halt. Before him was a large beast, Taller then him, with a large, well defined face and jaw, leading down to a chiselled neck and soft mane, and a hard large body suspended on four hoofed feet.

"You look like you've never seen a horse before!" Karim said, laughing as he walked behind the horse stalls, towards the blond.

"I haven't…" the blond replied back, gently reaching out to stroke the horse with his right hand, not wanting to spook it with geostigma. "What are they for?"

"Riding. We're going to take a tour through the town."

Cloud stopped his petting "Riding…?" He glanced at his geostigma-infected arm, which was tightly wrapped, before glancing at the horse. He had found that as soon as his geostigma had appeared, chocobos wouldn't come close to him unless they were a gold chocobo. All the others shied away in fear, or would attack him if he did manage to get to close, and the same was for Denzel. It had upset the kid till Cloud hunted down and caught one of the gold chocobos for him. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea." He said in his broken language. He was getting better at least.

"What are you, sacred?" Karim said, pulling two of the beasts out with him.

"No." Cloud said, following hesitantly. Karim demonstrated how to mount the horse, and Cloud sighed, moving towards the horse Karim had pulled out for him.

As expected, the horse's ears perked towards him, before the animal stepped away as he neared. Frowning, he tried to move closer again, the horse becoming slightly panicky and stomping its hooves slightly

"I told you."

Karim raised an eyebrow at the finicky battle horse. "What in the name of Ra is wrong with you?" He asked the horse.

Cloud sighed, shaking his head, pausing when he felt a tug on the bindings of his arm. "Nan'…?"

"Looks like Seth's favoured horse has taken a liking to you!" Karim laughed, pulling the other horse back to the stables. The horse had snuck up on Cloud, and was of all things chewing on his geostigma bindings.

"Take him." Cloud and Karim looked over, Seth stepping out of his slightly shadowed spot, nodding towards Cloud. "If your going for a ride, take him. He is able to stand the scent of dark magic and disease better then the other horses."

Cloud nodded, mounting the horse easily, smirking at Karim who looked flabbergast.

"You never let anyone ride that bloody beast!" Karim argued, before looking at Cloud, who resisted the urge to outright laugh at his companion. "And you could have told me you knew how to mount a horse even though you have never seen one."

"That would be because 'that bloody beast' does not like anyone else, Karim." Seth said, turning on his heel and striding from the stables, having to duck under the door.

Karim shook his head and glared at the smirking Cloud. "Well then, come on, lots to see and so little time." He swung his leg over the horse and began off at a slow pace.

Cloud caught up with him, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a gloved hand "Where I come from, we have chocobos."

Karim glanced at him, easily ignoring the stares the townspeople were shooting their way, mostly at the pale, blue-eyed blond "What are chocobos?"

"They are large birds, they are this colour." He explained, tugging on a lock of his own spiky hair.

Karim nodded, finding he had trouble imaging a large ibis bird trying to carry him. It would have to be a damn big ibis.

They traveled out of the town, Karim asking things of Cloud about his homeland as they traveled further into the desert. It was mostly things about battle tactics and such, and Cloud answered as best he could.

"ShinRa had an elite force, other then the army." Cloud said, after explaining that ShinRa was an organization that had growing inside the major city then had pretty much taken over as the government. "They called it SOLDIER."

"You were in SOLDIER?" Karim asked, glancing at Cloud who sighed.

"In a sense. In SOLDIER, there were also elites called First Class. The greatest SOLDIER First Class was named Sephiroth."

"You talked about him…in your sleep, I mean. When you first came in unconscious." Karim informed, and Cloud nodded, not really surprised. He said a lot of things in his sleep. He had found out later that Aerith knew he had known Zack not long after they met, because he was mumbling in his sleep. And here he had thought he had managed to get rid of that habit since then.

"Sephiroth…He was a great swordsman and general, but," Cloud paused, trying to find the words, "during a mission to my home town, he went mad. He locked himself in the basement of an abandoned mansion, and when he came out he slaughtered everyone."

"I'm sorry" Karim apologised.

"It has been years since then. It doesn't hurt as much now…What is that?" Cloud paused, seeing the smoke rise up in the distance.

Karim paused, squinting into the distance. "Looks like smoke. Some poor mans house probably went up in the heat…Cloud?"

Cloud had gone pale. His mako enhanced eyes watched as a woman ran out of the burning village only to get sliced clean in half by a misty apparition wielding a large, curved sickle.

"Cloud!" Karim shouted as the blond spurred his horse heedlessly towards the smoke and blaze. Karim spurred after him, but discovered he was soon falling behind to the speed of Seth's prized horse.

Cloud spurred his horse past the few people still able to run, ignoring the bodies dismembered in the dirt. The apparition appeared again, right in front of him, swinging it's scythe. Cloud caught the blade, allowing it to swipe him off the horse and towards a wall, which he landed on easily and pushed himself at the apparition, slamming his fist into it's skull like face. He quickly delivered a round house to the thing, sending it shrieking into a wall, where it deteriorated into dust.

"Impressive."

Cloud turned, falling into a defensive stance, wishing he had his sword, even though he knew he was fairly capable in a hand-to-hand fight. There stood seven men in dark black robes, each with a gold wing shaped object on their left arms. A carving of the apparition on one of their plates vanished.

"Didn't think a mere human could attack a shadow monster without using their own Ka." One asked, glaring at the blond from under his dark hood.

"It is possible his Ka is so strong it doesn't need to manifest itself out of his body." Another answered, smiling insanely.

The one in front threw his arm out, smirking as well. "Inferno Hammer, come to my aid!"

Cloud felt the ground lurch beneath him, but he managed to stay on his feet without much trouble. A large beast materialized before him, with a largely muscled frame of red flesh and a skull over his tiny head. Maybe it was his head, cloud thought idly as he took in the buckles around the beasts ankles and feet, and the gaping mouth in the middle of the things belly, where a green eye watched. In it's hands was a giant steel hammer

"Pft." Cloud blew off, turning away, walking away slightly.

"Is he just walking away?" Another of the hooded men asked in shock.

Suddenly Cloud turned on his heel, rushing the beast. He jumped in the air, a steel sword he had picked up from where he walked to in his hands. He slammed on the things skull before it had a chance to notice what was going on, ricocheting in a random direction, before changing direction mid air and delivering another series of attacks. The skull was beginning to crack, the beast flailing wildly trying to catch the nuisance, but cloud kept out of it's reach, until on the 7th attack, the blade snapped, and he kicked off the beast's face, landing on the ground several feet away.

The Inferno Hammer Shrieked, charging the man. Cloud smirked as it neared, moving both hands in front of him and steadying his feet. "Thundaga!" He shouted, one of the green orbs on his Wizard Bracelet flashing, thunder cracking down straight on the beasts head, causing it to explode into several moist pieces.

Cloud winced, covering his face from the gore. His stomach lurched as the smell and taste of cooked flesh made its way into his mouth and nose.

"Retreat!" He heard, and saw the seven men cast a spell which consumed them in darkness before they vanished.

"Kuso!" He swore, swallowing hard to prevent himself from vomiting.

"Cloud!" He looked over and saw Karim, who looked slightly shocked. "Lets round up the rest of the villagers and leave. We don't want them coming back with reinforcements." Cloud nodded and they began the painstaking process of rounding up what remained of the people who had managed to hide. It took an hour before Cloud was giving the village a last sweep, before he paused, hearing small whimpers coming from under a house.

He peered under, moving slowly so as not to startle who ever was under the platform. "It's all right, I'm not here to harm you." he shifted onto his hands, peering into the person's hiding spot with his glowing eyes. Huddled under the deck was a little girl, probably no older then 10. Her hair was long and dark, her skin the same mocha shade under all the soot and debris. She looked almost exactly like Marlene. He paused, before holding his hand out, smiling through his surprise.

Eventually, the girl crawled out taking his hand.

"Where are your parents?" Cloud asked softly. A look of pain flashed across the girls face. "I-I'm sorry." He said softly, picking her up. She looked startled momentarily, and watched him wearily. "What's your name?" the girl stared, before shaking her head. "Well, we'll figure out what to call you later, hm? Right now lets get back to the palace."

"Cloud! Everyone's out!" Karim shouted.

Cloud walked over to the small group of crying huddled villagers. "Karim, this child is under my protection unless someone comes to claim her. Do you think Atemu-sama would mind if she stayed with me."

Karim paused. "She is just a child, I doubt he would have a problem with it. The council might, but Pharaoh has told them to shove it more then once already regarding you."

Cloud nodded, smiling at the girl. "Lets head out."

--

Authors Notes:

When you actually pronounce most of the names of the characters in Japanese, it comes out as their English names from the series. For example: Isis- I-shi-su (Ishizu), Seth- Seto, and Malik- Mer-iku (Marik) and so on. Some names like Maha'ado and Mana are said the same.

Ohiyo Gozimasu- Formal 'Hello'

Per-a'A- Pharaoh (king)

Kemet- Black Lands (Egypt)

Daijoubu- Are you alright? (short form)

Gomen- Sorry

Nan' desu ka?- What is that/it? (informal)

Hem-netjer-tepey: High priest


	4. Everything in its Proper Place

Disclaimer: See Chapter I for the standard disclaimer.

Underline: Speech in Japanese

Note: All Japanese and Egyptian translations are at the bottom under the authors notes.

Alright, so long awaited chapter 4:

Hakumei-chan: It will eventually reach M-rating (I work in a game store, technically as soon as it's got blood it hits the M-rating )

Golden Feathers Edward: Uke Cloud sound's good to me ^_~.

Dimonyo-anghel: Can't reveal too much, but here's more. Yes that was the first appearance of the bad guys. Read ahead. I'll repost the story's summary in CH1. Possibly.

Pride1289: Vincent will definately be in this. I'm just working out the kinks to get him there.

Wingsong5555: For a little while, my art took up my life. Then I went to college. Now I'm an Assistant Manager (lol...let me tell you THAT keeps me very busy)

And thank-you to Fireotaku18, Brokenwindow23, Crossing Dreamer Silverdramon, CrimsonpuppetP, Near Kitten, _, and all the other readers who have watched/read/reviewed AFA.

-----

Angel from above

Chapter IV

Everything in its Proper Place

-----

Cloud yawned, stretching his arm over the young girl, smiling at the memory of her climbing into bed with him after a bad dream. Atem hadn't had a problem with letting Cloud keep the girl, and had given her a room a few hallways down from Clouds. In the late night, it seemed, the girl had had a nightmare, although he didn't know what as the girl still hadn't said a word to anyone. She had snuck out of her own room and had woken Cloud up trying to wedge the door open quietly.

In return for her efforts of braving the cold palace at night with the rougher of the guards, he had told her stories in his native tongue, which worked admirably in putting her mind to ease and put the young girl to sleep. Now, it was a new day, and he was going to have to figure out what to do with her while he was still attending his 'lessons'.

'I suppose I could just bring her with me.' He mused to himself, to lazy still to try and free the arm trapped beneath the girl. 'That and I need to find out her name. I cant be calling her 'girl' or 'her' all the time…' During his pondering, the girl began to stir. Eventually she peered open her eyes, before hiding shyly under the linen sheets. "Don't hide." Cloud said with a smile. "You still haven't told me your name, ojou-chan." he said, knowing his language was still broken, but it was manageable.

The girl shrugged misurably, getting up and moving to leave, before pausing, watching Cloud's wrist. The blond followed her eyes, and smiled when he saw her watching his Wizard Bracelet, the six materia glowing faintly in their slots. He had been quite thankful to find the accessory hadn't fallen from his clothes on his way through the lifestream to this new place, where ever Kemet was. He still only used materia when he absolutely had to.

He sat up, pointing at one of the connected slots with a green and indigo orb connected, then a red and indigo, then a green and red, and another green "_Comet _and _All_, _Bahamut__ZERO_ and _Final Attack_, _Barrier _and _Odin_, and that is _Lightning_."

The girl stared at Odin and Bahamut's deep red spheres, moving a hand to gently touch the orb before pulling away with a furious blush.

"You like them?" He asked, smiling when she nodded. "What do you like? Their names? Their colour?" She paused and nodded at the second one, and Cloud took Odin from its slot, wrapping it in a small piece of linen and tieing it securely to the cord at her waist. "There."

The girl picked up the orb dangling from her sash, the linen make-shift cord long enough that she could look at it closely but short enough that it didn't drop on the floor. She hugged the blond, shocking his slightly before he hugged back, chuckling.

"Are you going to tell me your name?" He asked, sighing when she didn't shake nor nod her head. "Am I going to name you?" The girl didn't do anything at first, but then nodded, again surprising the blond. "Saa…Alright then. What to name you…" Cloud said a couple names in his mind, shaking his head at each one, he also said a few he thought were suitable, watchign as she wrinkled her nose cutely at the ones she didn't like, which was the majority. "We might have to think of something later." He said when there was a raping outside his door "Hai?"

"Are you awake, son?" Called one of the aged guards Cloud had made friends with in his time at the Palace. "Priest Maha'ado is waiting for you."

Cloud nodded and said he'd be there soon. Getting up and stretching, Cloud made his way around the room, looking for a cleaner set of robes to wear. He was indeed thankful they made him wear the thin linnens instead of his clothes. His blue vest and black pants would've killed him by now.

After changing and redoing the bandages on his arm, he smiled to the girl and offered his hand. "Want to come?"

She looked momentarily frightened for a moment, before taking his hand as he led her through the palace, heading for one of Maha'ado's many rooms. The priest had said that Cloud could sit in on Mana's magic training, and that he would tell Cloud about the lore of Kemet, and more about the different gods. Cloud held a particular intrest in Anubis. For some reason, the god reminded his of Zack. He had seen his friend come back to him in the form of a wolf multiple times, and the thought of how Zack had protected him made him grin as he couldn't help but compare the good man with the god.

All through his after noon classes, the girl followed him. She amused herself if he was learning something that held no intrest to her, but would pay attention if it was interesting. When they arrived in the garden where Isis was, however, she was content with running around the greens and yellows and reds seen no-where else in Kemet. The priests had agreed that since he was picking up the language fairly well, he should learn the heiroglyphics, if, for nothing else, to keep him busy.

He was copying the symbols dutifully, the brush held loosely in his left hand. He was having little difficulty, since his own language's writings were mostly stick-like lines. If it had been something flowing he'd probably have problems with it. The suddeness of the red in his field of vision caused him to pause and blink stupidly before following the beautiful red petals and green stems up a tanned arm to look at the young girl, who was blushing.

Grinning, he pushed the papyrus sheets and ink away before swining the girl into his lap, enjoying the delgight hidden in her face. If he had known Zack for any fewer of years, he wouldn't have been able to pick out the hidden emotions under the fake masks. Taking the flowers from her, "For me?" She shyly hid her face in his collar and nodded, and he paused in thought as he glanced from the red flowers, to the red materia clutched in her small hand. "Akane." He said, with a soft smile. "It means a deep red, like your flowers. How about we call you Akane?"

The girl smiled shyly and nodded, liking the sound.

"Cloud, I believe it is getting late."

Cloud glanced up, nodding. "Akane. Will you go with Isis-sama to get cleaned up?" he asked the girl, who nodded.

Isis smiled and held her hand out, leading the little girl away. In a brief instant when she walked through the door, time managed to slow slightly, and for a moment, it wasn't Akane, but Marlene, who was walking through the doorway, and it was Tifa smiling brightly as she held her hand. Cloud closed his eyes and waited for the home-sickness to fade, attempting to meditate slightly like he had in the church, when his geostigma had first manifested itself and he had fled into hiding. Taking a few more shaky breaths, he got up, walking slowly out of the courtyard, the sun's fading light causing the numerous pillars to cast about abstract shadows.

"I saw him, Pharaoh! He took down a shadow monster without using anything but a sword and an elemental magic of sorts." Karim said.

Cloud moved behind a pillar, hiding himself firmly more on instinct then anything else as he listened to what he could make of the conversation.

The footsteps paused. "That is…alarming. I wouldn't fear Cloud, even with his strength, though." Atem replied.

"Pharaoh," Karim whined.

"Karim, I will tell you something that you must not repeat to anyone. Not Seth, not Maha'ado, not Cloud, do you understand?" There was a pause in the hushed tone as Cloud assumed Atem was waiting for a reasurance, and looking around. "Good. Now, a few moons ago, Isis had a vision. Not a regular vision either, this one only visited her on the night that her brother was found to be kidnapped. The vision read that Kemet will fall to the ever-present darkness, but a gift from the gods will be the only thing to be able to save us all. He will be brought from a far off land. At first when Isis saw in her visions what the man looked like, she thought it was her brother, but now…"

"Its Cloud." Karim finished solemnly.

"Yes. We need him to defeat the black rulers of the upper kingdom."

Cloud felt anger spike at the thought of being used. He tried to calm himself, as he knew the geostigma had a habit of forcing one's emotions to be extreme, but the anger still bubbled.

"We should inform-"

"No, we will not be telling Cloud. The dark rulers have a mad man to rule them, and I fear he can even best the powers of the gods. If Cloud defeated a shadow monster on his own, as you said, then it proves that he might just be stronger then the gods as well."

There was a pause. "Pharaoh?"

"He's powerful, Karim. I can feel it since he arrived that his power knows no bounds. If worst comes to worst- Ra, I hate to ask of you such a difficult task-"

"I will do my best Pharaoh." Karim said. They waited, looking at each other for a short while longer, before walking along, going past Cloud's hiding spot and up another flight of stairs.

Cloud pulled himself from the pillar, heading towards his rooms as he steamed. He collected his swords, and a cloak before jumping onto the rail of the balcony, knowing no one would notice him this time of night. He lept from the second floor, avoiding the guards as he made his way out of the palace grounds and into the city, wrapping the cloak around himself to avoid getting noticed. He just needed some time to vent. Once, he came back though, he was going to need answers.

----

Maybe taking on three of the mage's of the black ruler's wasn't such a good idea, he thought idly.

Apparently, he was in their territory, and apparently they thought he was helping a band of theives who had stolen one of their rare artifacts. He hadn't bothered to correct them, when they accused him, nor was he even really sure if they would have listened, but now, he decided, it might have been a good idea to try. He dodged a large bird-like monster, jumping off it's head and twisting away from a white dragon just in the nick of time. One of the gigantic monsters, one that looked like it had a healthy dose of Mako, roared and tried to grab him out of the air. He deftly slammed his sword down into the monster's knuckles, hitting the quick release on his sword to send the other 5 flying up the beast's arm. He winced as the monster's shriek echoed in his head as he ran up it's arm to collect the swords, dodging the other fist, which was easily double his size, he jumped into the air with all swords, planning on using a quick and simple braver to split his opponent's head in two, when the dragon slammed him from the air, sending him spiralling down to the ground. Cloud gasped as he landed wrong, and he instantly berated himself for his foolish mistake.

The monster slammed a fist into him before he knew what was happening, and he wondered if he should be seeing his life flashing before his eyes as he fell from the high ground, tumbling harshly as blood flowed from a gash on his temple from the monster. It had been bleeding freely for the better part of the battle, his head rushing when every he was anywhere other then right side up. He winced as he failed to catch himself, smashing his head and battered body into rocks all down the hillside, before landing in a crumpled heap as the monster roared, charging towards him. In his pain addled brain, he only vaguely noticed when the ground began to suck him up. His breath sealed in his throat on instinct, to avoid a rapid death, before he fell with the sand through the roof of a dark cave. He almost thought it was he who had grunted when the sand spit him back out, before his subconscious noticed lazily that there was another warm body under his own. He didn't even think of the winds above blowing the sands to cover the mark of his existence, nor did he pause to think of possible dangers as he slipped into a blurred sleep.

-----

He could hear loud hustle and bustle around him. People talking amongst each other, some discussing prices, other's going through morning prayers, children were laughing, playing with each other. It was far louder then the quiet bustle of the priests and politicians of the palace. Surprisingly, no headache accompanied the noise, and he rubbed his eyes blearily.

He was in a flax tent, shadows of people moving around behind the tents tan coloured walls. He sat up, a momentary dizzy spell hitting him. Moving his hand to his head, he paused, noticing the soft cotton bandages wrapped around his head, sure that his hair was sticking out everywhere. Beside him sat several small bowls, most smelling like various spices either in a cream or liquid form. He got up slowly, pleased to note that the mako in his body had already taken care of the light-headdedness, pushing the flap of his tent open and getting out slowly.

Unlike the palace, no one took too much note in him. A few people said friendly hello's, to which he replied politely, and a few simply carried on with their day.

"Ah, I see you're awake."

Cloud turned, startled, smiling at the hunched old-lady dressed in peasant-brown robes with a white shall over her shoulders.

"Yes, thank you." He said, noticing that the numerous other wounds on his body were also wrapped in bandages.

"Oh, don't thank me!" The elder lady admonished. "Thank the Priest of Sekhmet." she said, pointing towards a large group of children and teens playing kickball.

Cloud nodded his thanks as the elder lady continued on her way. He headed towards the children, catching the ball quickly as it came whistling towards his head.

The children stopped and stared, and cloud realized how fast he had moved with a blush, tossing the ball back down to the group of children. They hastily looked away, before going back to their game, taking glancing looks at him whenever any one of them went by them.

"Wow. That was impressive." A sandy-haired teen said as he moved to Cloud's side, grinning at him.

"Good reflexes, I suppose. Shouldn't you be apologizing? You were the one who kicked it." He replied, wondering slightly about the teen's indigo eye colour.

The blonde laughed. "I was just trying to see if my salves worked in getting rid of your headache! A good jolt to the head usually sees how strong the medicine was."

Cloud stared at the blonde, eyebrows raised. "You're the Priest of Sekhmet?"

"What, too young?" The blonde asked, motioning for Cloud to walk with him. "Priest of Sekhmet is so formal. Just call me Malik." The blonde turned with a flourish, his arms wide. "And welcome to Kul Adofo."

Cloud took pause and glanced around. The entire city- and it was a fairly large city- was held within a giant cave. There were buildings carved into the walls, tents pitched on the dark sand-littered ground. In the roof there were a few small pillars of sand, raining from above, and into large sand-rivers which trickled slowly down into groves in the walls. On the far east side, there was even a river, where women carrying baskets were dividing water amongst the people.

"You sure gave us a scare." Malik said with a laugh, leading Cloud closer to one of the larger sand-falls. "I mean, you took down four houses between you and your gaudy swords."

"No one was hurt?" Cloud asked, feeling his stomach drop. A 10 pound rock dropping from that height would probably lethally wound a person, let alone his 70 pound-a-peice swords.

"No, the only person who got hit was Thief King, and that was only by you." Malik looked him over. "You probably weight about 8 wheat bundles, maybe nine." He teased.

Cloud blushed pink, crossing his arms. Like Zack's teasing attitude, Malik's personality was addictive. "Just because I'm short doesn't mean anything. I weigh at least 15."

"Lies." Malik laughed, knocking on the wall beside a door cut from stone. This house was set further away from the rest, solitary and away from all the light of the torches.

"What?" A gruff voice demanded from inside.

"Come to get the new-commer's swords." Malik responded.

The deep purple curtain moved to the side, and Cloud was momentarily thankful that he was good at hiding when he was really embarrassed.

The man was taller then he (not that that said much), probably about 5'9-Tifa's height. His skin was a dark cinnamon like the rest of Kemet's people, except for the dark scar over his right eye, which was almost as white as Cloud's own skin. His eyes were indigo, and his shoulder length white hair fell to his shoulders. What got Cloud was that the man was wearing nothing but a short white kilt, showing off his broad shoulders and compact musculature. It took him back to the Shin-Ra army for a moment, where he was chased around the showers with rolled up towels, and the other boy's stealing his clothes. Most of them just so happened to have the same physique, ironically.

The man looked Cloud over, before nodding his head inside. "And you know for sure that this bastard isn't going to kill us all and run off with our heads?" He asked, leading them past vast piles of gold, and treasure chests over flowing with expensive clothing, jewelry, and coin.

Malik turned and smiled at Cloud. "Don't worry about Thief King's bad mood. It just so happened he was the one you landed on."

"Sorry." Cloud said, seeing his swords propped against the back wall of the main room, beside the large pile of cushions and blankets. He paused, double counting his swords, before closing his eyes with a sigh. "Was there anymore then 4?"

"Not that we saw." Malik replied, as the dubbed 'Thief King' tapped his foot impatiently.

"Kuso." Cloud swore quietly, slightly thankful that he had managed to keep a hold of Vigilante and Vendetta. Carrying around the other blades without his sheathe would have been ridiculously difficult without the main blades.

"Why?" Malik asked.

"I'm missing Merciless and Sidewinder." Cloud said.

"There's more?!" Malik asked incredulously, gawking openly as Cloud began putting the blades together with little to no effort.

"Told you they were actually his." The Thief King taunted. "Now get of my house, and take the annoying Priest-brat with you."

Cloud nodded, heading out the house followed by Malik.

"Ra, he's always acting like he's Pharaoh." Malik complained.

"You do call him Thief King." Cloud responded, allowing Malik to walk ahead of him so he could follow.

"Ya, that's because everyone down to the elders call him 'Thief King'. He won't tell anyone his real name. Doesn't mean he can treat us like dirt." Malik ranted, throwing his hands in the air.

"He probably has his reasons." Cloud said, not really knowing why he was defending the man. He probably was still feeling sorry for landing on the man. "Besides, weren't you the one asking me to forgive his bad mood?"

"Ya, but-"

"Watch your tongue, priest." An elder man said, slapping Malik upside the head. "The only reason you have a home is because Thief King keeps it safe."

"Doesn't mean he needs to be a donkey about it." Malik muttered.

"Thief King is the last survivor of our sister city- Kul Elna. Only the black magick of his people keeps us safe." The man said, heading inside his own tent.

Cloud followed Malik back to the tent he had woken up in, flopping down on the flax mattress, rubbing his eyes. Even though he had just woken up, he was already tired again. He drifted to sleep, thinking of the odd feeling that the Thief King gave him. It was an oddly familiar feeling, and he had the sudden image Vincent, standing in candle light, with the flickering image of Chaos pasted to the wall within Vincent's own shadow, before the comparison was forgotten in dreams.

-----

Authors Notes:

Ojou-chan- Young lady/little princess

Hai- Yes

To- informal 'and' (Forgot for last chapter XP)

Vigilante- First, larger base sword

Vendetta- second sword with it's hilt built into the blade

Merciless and Avenger- two identical long-swords comprised of the flat edge and serrated edge

Ascalon and Sidewinder- twin swords with gears holding the flipping hilt


End file.
